Name of Yerevan
The investigators (Gh.Alishan, Gh.Inchichyan) and the foreign travellers who visited Yerevan (J.Sharden, Robert Ker Porter, William Auzley, H.F.B.Linch) were especially interested in the name of Yerevan. In the Armenian literary Yerevan is mentioned as Yervan, Erevan, Ervan, Eruan, Arevan and in other forms. In the works of foreign travellers and investigators Yerevan is mentioned as Erivan Irvan, Iravan, Erevan, Irevan and in other forms.It is supposed that on the map of Ptghomeos(the 2nd century) the mentioned settlement Tervan is Yerevan, and the letter I from the name Irvan was in the form of T, because on the map Tervan is mentioned in the same geographical latitude as Yerevan. There are a lot of interpretations and legends commenting the name of Yerevan. The oldest and the most spread interpretation concerns the name of forefather Noah. According to the legend, popular with among the people,after the Deluge, when the water went back, Noah saw a land from Mount Ararat mountain and cried “Yerevats,Yerevats!” (I see the land), which later on was modified into Yerevan. This legend is very old and has always been popular with the people. The foreign travellers, who visited Yerevan and were told that legend by the residents, also testify this legend. One of the first tellers is Jan Sharden, who was in Yerevan in 1672-73years. The local Armenians had also told him, that Yerevan was the residence of Noah before the Deluge and was built in the same place just after it. William Auzley, Robert Ker Porter, A.Haqsthauzen, Linch and the others also link the name of Yerevan and the foundation of the city with Noah. In Armenian historiography Gh.Inchichyan, M.Smbatyan and the others had also touched upon this legend. This point of view is still a popular legend and is proves, that Yerevan is a very old settlement. There is also another point of view explaining the name of Yerevan. According to it the name of Yerevan was taken from the name of Yervand the 4th (220-20 BC), the last king of Yervandyan dynasty. H.Nalyan supposes, that Yerevan is the same capital Yervandashat built by the king Yervand, other investigators think that – it’s the city Yervandavan. Foreign travellers also testify that according to the legend widespread among the Armenians, the name of Yerevan was taken from the name of the king Yervand. Among the explainations we can ignore another Turkish-Persian legend,telling that the name of Yerevan was formed after the name of Persian khan Revan-Ghuli. This opinion is inadmissible, because that khan had ruled Yerevan in the beginning of the 16th century, but Yerevan and its name have a history of thousand years. In the 19th-20th centuries the discovery and the reading of the cuneiform reports, by the kings of the oldest Armenian Ararat-Urartu State (Biaynili, the kingdom of Van), discovered in the territory of Armenia, enabled not only to precise a lot of geographical names, but also to interprete their meanings in a new way. In Urartian reports the names of Erian, Eriakh, Erebuni can be read in the report by the king Russa the First (735-713 BC), discovered in the village Tsovinar,near to Lake Sevan, among the names of 22 lands the name of Eriani is also mentioned. The Russian archeologist M.Nikolski put the Eriani land in the environs of Yerevan,on the top of the mountain Arin-Berd and tells that the name of Yerevan was taken from Eriani.Ye. Shahaziz, Gh.Samvelyan and other scientists also accept this point of view. Category:History of Armenia